Pacheco tripled in Saturday’s game, and has been sharing time at third base with Chris Nelson. Pacheco is hitting .200 in 10 at-bats. With Nelson showing improvement offensively (.273 in 22 at-bats), and manager Jim Tracy liking Jonathan Herrera’s defensive versatility, Pacheco became the odd man out.

“Good luck to the big club keep it going. My time is to go help my boys in Springs. #believeit,” Pacheco tweeted from his @JstyleP account.

It’s clear that Pacheco still needs work defensively at third base. And it’s hard to improve without getting regular playing time. This move frees Pacheco to get consistent innings defensively. Pacheco made the team because of his bat. But third base is his third-best position behind catcher and first base.

“We optioned him back with a specific plan in place. What it boils down to is that the bulk of his work will be at third base, some second and he will catch periodically. But the bulk of the work will be at third base,” manager Jim Tracy said Sunday. “Because what we have seen so far strongly suggests that what he needs is repetitions. He need to be out there play after play, not every three days. We want him to be able to react to the ball off the bat, we want him to mentally react, and know what he needs to do beforehand.”

Pacheco has shown athleticism at third base, but he has struggled with his throws. He made a critical error a week ago in Houston, bouncing a ball past Michael Cuddyer. And last night, in awful field conditions, he struggled on throws to second to start double plays.

“Now you have your second baseman a little bit hung out to dry, because he’s reaching for a throw down here. We could have had a signal-30 train wreck right there,” Tracy said. “Give the kid a chance to get some repetitions, so it becomes instinctual.”

This is likely a short-term move. Herrera was also a candidate to be optioned. However, with Nelson starting at third, rather than serving as a utility player, Herrera becomes a primary backup for Marco Scutaro.